NASA will launch its Orion spaceship — the agency's deep-space capsule built to carry humans on future missions to an asteroid and Mars — on an unmanned test flight tomorrow (Dec. 4), but as the spacecraft rockets thousands of miles away from Earth, it won't be alone. A NASA drone, two U.S. Navy planes and several helicopters will join the capsule for at least part of its journey.

You can thank this Predator drone for capturing NASA’s incredible Orion splashdown

By Brian Fung December 5 at 1:13 PM

That's partly due to improved camera technology, of course. We now get crisper images and better frame rates. But think about what else had to go into NASA's coverage of the Orion splashdown. Countless people tuned in to watch America's next manned spacecraft return to Earth — live, in real-time, over the Internet! — and from an incredible bird's-eye angle.

All of that was made possible by NASA's Predator drone. Yes, since 2006 NASA has had its own unmanned aircraft, modified to do things like monitor wildfires and take measurements of the atmosphere. It doesn't shoot Hellfire missiles, but the drone, named "Ikhana," can fly as high as an airliner at cruising altitude and can carry more than 2,400 pounds of science gear on its wings and in its internal bay.

A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was acquired by NASA in November 2006 to support Earth science missions and advanced aeronautical technology development. The aircraft, named Ikhana, also acts as a test bed to develop capabilities and technologies to improve the utility of unmanned aircraft systems.

Ikhana is a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligent, conscious or aware. The name is descriptive of the research goals NASA has established for the aircraft and its related systems.

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NASA's Ikhana Predator B received an avionics upgrade, wingtip winglets, and a new paint scheme in 2013.

NASA's Ikhana unmanned science and technology development aircraft is a Predator B unmanned aerial system. It was acquired by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center to support Earth science missions and advanced aeronautical technology development. The aircraft, named Ikhana, acts as a testbed to develop capabilities and technologies to improve the utility of unmanned aerial systems. NASA obtained the aircraft from the manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, in November 2006. Ikhana is a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligence, conscious or aware. The name is descriptive of the research goals NASA has established for the aircraft and its related systems.

The aircraft, designed for long-endurance, high-altitude flight, has been modified and instrumented for use in multiple civil research roles.

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The Navy NP-3D Orion aircraft had a challenging job to image the heat shield on the ORION capsule.

This article was written for the expected December 4, 2014 launch which in fact took place on December 5, 2014 and was successful in getting data.

A number of teams will have eyes, cameras and telescopes trained on the skies for the splashdown of the first flight of NASA's Orion capsule — with the help of Navy and NASA aircraft.

The SCIFLI (Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery) team, based at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is preparing to capture thermal snapshots of the super hot re-entry of Orion into Earth's atmosphere following its first test flight. The uncrewed capsule is scheduled to launch no earlier than Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. ET atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Orion will travel to an altitude of 3,600 miles — 15 times higher than the International Space Station — orbit Earth twice, then splash down in the Pacific Ocean four and a half hours later and be recovered.

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The team will use a U.S. Navy NP-3D aircraft, also called Orion, to capture the imagery. It is equipped with a long-range infrared optical system called "Cast Glance." The NP-3D Orion is one of five operated by the NAVAIR Weapons Division's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron-30 (VX-30), Pt. Mugu, California. The research effort is sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.

NASA has acquired a Predator B unmanned aircraft system to conduct Earth science and technology development missions. Named "Ikhana" a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligent, the aircraft will fly long-endurance, high-altitude flights from its base at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Atmospheric and remote sensing instruments will be installed in the aircraft or in external pods to collect data on flights lasting up to 30 hours.

License

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronauts
to exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the
exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,
provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space
travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.
....

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft intended to carry a crew of up to 4[2] astronauts to destinations beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO). Currently under development by NASA[8] for launch on the Space Launch System,[9] Orion will facilitate human exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

The MPCV was announced by NASA on May 24, 2011.[10] Its design is based on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle from the cancelled Constellation program.[11] The Orion command module is being built by Lockheed Martin. The Orion Service Module, provided by the European Space Agency,[12][13] is being built by Airbus Defence and Space.

The MPCV's debut uncrewed test flight, known as Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), is scheduled to be launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket on December 4, 2014.[3][4][14] The first crewed mission is expected to take place after 2020.[15]...

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronauts
to exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the
exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,
provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space
travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.
....

NASA's Orion spacecraft, which could one day send astronauts to Mars, is stuck on terra firma for at least another day after the space agency's mission control was unable to satisfactorily resolve a number of issues before a 9:45 a.m. launch window closed.

The unmanned vehicle is awaiting its first test in Earth orbit. But after multiple delays for high winds and a stuck liquid-oxygen drain valve on one or more of the Delta IV Heavy rocket's booster engines, NASA didn't have time to get the rocket off the pad. It will try again Friday morning.

The vehicle perched atop the Delta rocket, known officially as Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, or MPCV, is designed to carry up to four astronauts.

Today's attempt to launch Orion EFT-1 has been scrubbed today after continuing issues with ground winds - and then with fill and drain valves on the Delta IV Heavy Launch vehicle. There were also issues with battery levels on the rocket's video system. The plan seems to be to try again tomorrow with a 7:05 am ET launch time.

Update: According to speakers at today's NASA press briefing, the ship that caused the launch delay was never in a position to present a safety hazard. While winds caused the first two scrubs, the ultimate scrub for the day had to do with sluggish response times for liquid Hydrogen valves on the Atlas IV Heavy. This is an issue that has been seen before on a prior launch. There are also some minor issues having to do with battery life for instrumentation inside of Orion and inside the Delta IV Heavy rocket that are being addressed. If a launch attempt is made tomorrow but is not successful, then ULA will need to skip over Saturday in order to replenish ground tanke supplies. Overall the tone of the briefing was that this all went by the books, the issues are understood and can be handled.

The launch team has tentatively set a liftoff time of 7:05 a.m. EST, the opening of a 2-hour, 39 minute window just as today. We will begin our launch coverage at 6 a.m. tomorrow on NASA TV and on the Orion blog. Tune into the blog and NASA.gov for continuing updates throughout the day.

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft intended to carry a crew of up to 4[2] astronauts to destinations beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO). Currently under development by NASA[8] for launch on the Space Launch System,[9] Orion will facilitate human exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

The MPCV was announced by NASA on May 24, 2011.[10] Its design is based on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle from the cancelled Constellation program.[11] The Orion command module is being built by Lockheed Martin. The Orion Service Module, provided by the European Space Agency,[12][13] is being built by Airbus Defence and Space.

The MPCV's debut uncrewed test flight, known as Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), is scheduled to be launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket on December 4, 2014.[3][4][14] The first crewed mission is expected to take place after 2020.[15]...

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronautsto exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as theexploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during spacetravel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.
....

Meteorologists upgraded their outlook for Orion’s launch tomorrow morning to give it a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The forecast says drier conditions are expected and the chance of coastal showers has diminished during the 2-hour, 39-minute launch window. The primary rules concerns remain flight through precipitation and high winds. With less than 23 […]...

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This is an article from Bloomberg Businessweek starting out with a statement that NASA is launching a spacecraft that will take humans to Mars which is a catchy sound byte but no way would one want to spend 7 months with only 4 crew in a very confined space. We shall see how much it excites students. There are links and videos that might be viewed to help fill out where we are headed, or not. We do what we can with the cards we are delt.

Mission to MarsNASA Is Launching a Spacecraft That Will Take Humans to MarsBy Justin Bachman December 02, 2014

NASA is launching its boldest test flight in decades this week. An unmanned capsule will head off on Thursday to reach a distance of 3,600 miles from Earth—the farthest space mission with a craft designed to accommodate humans since the final Apollo 17 trip to the moon in 1972.

Called Orion, the program will mark a key initial step toward a human mission to Mars. Orion is also designed to excite the public’s imagination for deep-space exploration, much as the Apollo moon missions sparked an interest in space and produced civilian engineering triumphs. With the first test flight on Thursday, NASA wants to make it abundantly clear that much of the hardware that can get humans to Mars already exists and is ready to fly.

“My hope is that when we fly the capsule on Thursday, it will energize the public and energize that middle schooler [who] isn’t quite sure what he wants to do, but he likes math and science,” says Richard Boitnott, an engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

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The following link is about ORION and gives you a lot of material to digest.

This will let you know how far we have come and shows you just how many companies are participating.

A milestone in the program to develop a new human spaceflight system is set to occur this week, as the first unmanned flight of the new Orion spacecraft lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 37 on Thursday. This mission will test the overall flight qualities of the new Orion spacecraft. Many systems are still to be developed, with pieces of the spacecraft needed for human occupation replaced on this flight by instrumentation. The tests are designed to observe the vehicle’s responses to the dynamic environments of launch, orbit, high-speed re-entry and splashdown. Such flight test articles are called “boilerplate” vehicles.

The flight profile of Thursday’s test is similar in scope to the first test flights of the Apollo boilerplates. The general concerns are to monitor aerodynamic stresses during the key flight phases of launch and re-entry to assure that hull integrity is maintained and that operations in space are as expected. It is a test flight with limited objectives and expectations. But as the only human spaceflight event of any future significance in the calendar year, it has ramped up media interest and their coverage about the significance and potential of Orion.

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft intended to carry a crew of up to 4[2] astronauts to destinations beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO). Currently under development by NASA[8] for launch on the Space Launch System,[9] Orion will facilitate human exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

The MPCV was announced by NASA on May 24, 2011.[10] Its design is based on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle from the cancelled Constellation program.[11] The Orion command module is being built by Lockheed Martin. The Orion Service Module, provided by the European Space Agency,[12][13] is being built by Airbus Defence and Space.

The MPCV's debut uncrewed test flight, known as Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), is scheduled to be launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket on December 4, 2014.[3][4][14] The first crewed mission is expected to take place after 2020.[15]...

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronautsto exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as theexploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during spacetravel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.....

I am perplexed, moody, and a bit down in spirit. My arm and hand still tingle and hurt from the shingles we experience several years ago and so it is easier to read than type.

These posts have been few and far between and yet you folks continue to make suggestions that are interesting and show a continued interest in going back to the Moon with humans. I will be 77 New Years Eve and at the rate we are going I will need to live at least as long as my 104 year old mom. (will visit this week for Thanksgiving)

I grew up with Buck Rogers, enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey, and watched sliding doors open on Star Trek. I watched Apollo 11 land on the Moon with a Black and White TV and snapped a picture on time exposure with an early roll type Polaroid.

Today we think nothing of doors that open as we approach and smart phones are so common that my 7 year old granddaughter just tells me to "ask your phone" when I don't have the answer to her questions. :-) She politely asks to use my tablet to play games and helps grandma learn how to swipe on her tablet to play Candy Crush. :-)

With all this in mind I thought I should try and find things that might be interesting about setting up camp on the Moon. Too, too, too, many things. It would be so challenging to engineer and develop the ability to live on such a hostile environment. What fun.

As it turns out, it is also interesting to continue to live on mother Earth. More and more people and machines that need to be fed in many ways.

Let me mention just one for a taste. Hydrogen. You need Hydrogen and Oxygen for rocket fuel. You use Hydrogen with Oxygen for fuel cells to make electricity. Some say we should burn Hydrogen in cars. Plastics have hydrogen in them as do we. Water is 2 parts Hydrogen and 1 part Oxygen.

Currently, there is a huge demand of the chemical hydrogen. There is no log of the production volume and use of hydrogen world-wide, however consumption of hydrogen was estimated to have reached 900 billion cubic meters in 2011.[2]

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It would appear that there is an interest in producing Hydrogen with the small and living.

Microbial production of hydrogen: an overview.

Abstract

Production of hydrogen by anaerobes, facultative anaerobes, aerobes, methylotrophs, and photosynthetic bacteria is possible. Anaerobic Clostridia are potential producers and immobilized C. butyricum produces 2 mol H2/mol glucose at 50% efficiency. Spontaneous production of H2 from formate and glucose by immobilized Escherichia coli showed 100% and 60% efficiencies, respectively. Enterobactericiae produces H2 at similar efficiency from different monosaccharides during growth. Among methylotrophs, methanogenes, rumen bacteria, and thermophilic archae, Ruminococcus albus, is promising (2.37 mol/mol glucose). Immobilized aerobic Bacillus licheniformis optimally produces 0.7 mol H2/mol glucose. Photosynthetic Rhodospirillum rubrum produces 4, 7, and 6 mol of H2 from acetate, succinate, and malate, respectively. Excellent productivity (6.2 mol H2/mol glucose) by co-cultures of Cellulomonas with a hydrogenase uptake (Hup) mutant of R. capsulata on cellulose was found. Cyanobacteria, viz., Anabaena, Synechococcus, and Oscillatoria sp., have been studied for photoproduction of H2. Immobilized A. cylindrica produces H2 (20 ml/g dry wt/h) continually for 1 year. Increased H2 productivity was found for Hup mutant of A. variabilis. Synechococcus sp. has a high potential for H2 production in fermentors and outdoor cultures. Simultaneous productions of oxychemicals and H2 by Klebseilla sp. and by enzymatic methods were also attempted. The fate of H2 biotechnology is presumed to be dictated by the stock of fossil fuel and state of pollution in future.

PMID:

9561824

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Waste is something we try and get rid of and we produce a lot of organic waste here on Earth and I am sure we will generate a lot of organic waste on the Moon should we go back with humans.

Microbial hydrogen production by bioconversion of crude glycerol: A review

Abstract

Hydrogen is a clean source of energy with no harmful byproducts produced during its combustion. Bioconversion of different organic waste materials to hydrogen is a sustainable technology for hydrogen production and it has been investigated by several researchers. Crude glycerol generated during biodiesel manufacturing process can also be used as a feedstock for hydrogen production using microbial processes. The possibility of using crude glycerol as a feedstock for biohydrogen production has been reviewed in this article. A review of recent global biodiesel and crude glycerol production and their future market potential has also been carried out. Similarly, different technical constraints of crude glycerol bioconversion have been elaborately discussed and some strategies for improved hydrogen yield have also been proposed. It has been underlined that use of crude glycerol from biodiesel processing plants for hydrogen production has many advantages over the use of other organic wastes as substrate. Most importantly, it will give direct economic benefit to biodiesel manufacturing industries, which in turn will help in increasing biofuel production and it will partially replace harmful fossil fuels with biofuels. However, different impurities present in crude glycerol are known to inhibit microbial growth. Hence, suitable pretreatment of crude glycerol is recommended for maximum hydrogen yield. Similarly, by using suitable bioreactor system and adopting continuous mode of operation, further investigation of hydrogen production using crude glycerol as a substrate should be undertaken. Furthermore, isolation of more productive strains as well as development of engineered microorganism with enhanced hydrogen production potential is recommended. Strategies for application of co-culture of suitable microorganisms as inoculum for crude glycerol bioconversion and improved hydrogen production have also been proposed.

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Bacteria that live without Oxygen. Hmmm, sounds interesting. Where might I go that seems to be lacking in Oxygen.

Hydrogen production by Cyanobacteria

The limited fossil fuel prompts the prospecting of various unconventional energy sources to take over the traditional fossil fuel energy source. In this respect the use of hydrogen gas is an attractive alternate source. Attributed by its numerous advantages including those of environmentally clean, efficiency and renew ability, hydrogen gas is considered to be one of the most desired alternate. Cyanobacteria are highly promising microorganism for hydrogen production. In comparison to the traditional ways of hydrogen production (chemical, photoelectrical), Cyanobacterial hydrogen production is commercially viable. This review highlights the basic biology of cynobacterial hydrogen production, strains involved, large-scale hydrogen production and its future prospects. While integrating the existing knowledge and technology, much future improvement and progress is to be done before hydrogen is accepted as a commercial primary energy source.

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So much to learn, so little time, but wait, folks have already been studying how we might set up camp on the Moon and I am sure we can find something about how to get some Hydrogen for use there.

The Moon Miners’ Manifesto has been edited and published by Peter Kokh ten times per year since December 1986. Presented here are (1) chronological collections of non-time-sensitive articles from previous issues, one PDF collection per calendar year, and (2) collected articles by theme.
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A NASA official promises the U.S. space agency will never be so insensitive again as to place cremated human remains on the moon without wide consultation.

"I give my commitment that if we ever discuss doing something like this again, we will consult more widely and we will consult with Native Americans," Peggy Wilhide, the agency's director of public affairs, said Monday night.

Navajo Nation President Albert Hale on Sunday protested placement of an ounce of the ashes of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker aboard the unmanned Lunar Prospector.

Shoemaker, of Flagstaff, Ariz., trained the Apollo astronauts in lunar geology in the 1960s and early 1970s and always yearned to fly to the moon. He died in a car crash last summer.

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Drilling a 5cm-wide borehole between 20 and 100 metres deep and collect samples of moon material that has never been studied before won't be easy.This project will only be funded if at least £600,000 is pledged by Wed, Dec 17 2014 3:59 PM PST.

HOUSTON, July 31, 1999 — Colleagues of a late researcher noted for his expertise on outer-space collisions came up with an astronomical way to honor his memory. A vial carrying an ounce of Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes slammed into a moon crater at 3,800 mph, riding shotgun along NASA’s Lunar Prospector science craft.

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The cylindrical container that carried Shoemaker’s remains was manufactured by Celestis Inc., a Houston company that has used commercial rockets to launch into space the cremated remains of 55 people, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s drug guru Timothy Leary.

Leaving Earth to touch the cosmos is an experience few have ever known, but many have often dreamed of. Celestis makes it possible to honor the dream and memory of your departed loved one by launching a symbolic portion of cremated remains into Earth orbit, onto the lunar surface or into deep space. Missions into space that return the cremated remains to Earth are also available.

Join us at our launch events, and help bring the dream of spaceflight to reality by including a portion of your loved one's ashes aboard our next satellite. About Us...

The Space Ship 2 Disaster is bringing out the worst in journalism. In this latest article in Wired magazine an attempt is made to separate exploration in space from what the writer considers to be the crass commercial aspect of the Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2 and from what he considers legitimate space exploration. It […]

There is another emerging complaint about the activities of Virgin Galactic that I am seeing that I feel I must address. This is illustrated in a comment in my rebuttal to the Wired article, but is in the same vein as the Wired article, related to "tourism" and whether or not that is worth risking […]

It is a travel day for the remainder of Orbital’sAntares data review team who were on site at Wallops Island supporting the initial “quick look” flight data evaluation on Wednesday and Thursday. At this point we believe the on-site data review process has progressed as far as necessary, so the team is transitioning back to their home bases. The Accident Investigation Board (AIB) Chairman, Mr. Dave Steffy, and members of the AIB that are now being identified, will immediately take over further development of the “fault tree” that will drive future investigation activities.

Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today. During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely.

The Virgin Galactic team is cooperating with our partners at Scaled Composites and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as well as local authorities. We understand that the NTSB is scheduled to arrive in Mojave tomorrow morning (Saturday Nov. 1) to commence their investigation, which is expected to last several days.

Local authorities have confirmed that one of the two Scaled Composites pilots died during the accident. The other pilot parachuted to the ground and is being treated at a local hospital. All of us at Virgin Galactic are deeply saddened by today’s events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those affected by this accident